By Tom Fox
MaxPreps.com
Take a glance at the latest national rankings for high school wrestling, and one will notice that three of the top six teams in the country reside in Pennsylvania.
In fact, those three could be bumping heads in February at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Central Dauphin, Northampton and Central Mountain are all in the top six, and have started out the season strong.
CD, No. 3 in the latest polls, is led by Marshall Peppelman – ranked No. 3 in the country – and 189-pounder Tony Dallago (12th in the nation). The Rams are the defending PIAA Class AAA champs, and recently dominated the Top Hat Tournament at Williamsport High School.
The Konkrete Kids of Northampton, No. 4 in the country, have been untouchable in the early season. The squad cruised past Crestwood and Allentown Dieruff in opening-season duals, and picked up two more impressive wins last weekend.
Northampton beat out Council Rock South (44-13) and No. 11 Cumberland Valley (32-24) – two squads considered by most as contenders in their district to reach Hershey for the team duals.
The District 11 squad could be the most talented from top to bottom – especially at the bottom with Jimmy Sheptock (160), Aaron Chamberlain (189) and Joe Piro (215).
Mountain League champ Central Mountain is No. 6 in the nation, and survived a good test from a young and talented Bellefonte team, 40-30, recently.
The Wildcats, coming off a third-place finish at the Walsh Ironman behind Blair Academy (N.J.) and St. Paris Graham (Ohio), are led by the nation's top two junior recruits in Dylan and Andrew Alton. Both are closing in on the 100-win milestone and should reach it this weekend at the prestigious King of the Mountain Tournament.
Recently, the Wildcats dominated the Mountain League championships crowning five individual champs (A. Alton, D. Alton, Jacob Bachman, Glenn Barnes and Zach Corl) and two second-place finishers (Jordan Rich and Dylan Caprio).
Several other Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania schools are ranked in the Preps' Top 40, released by Amateur Wrestling News. Besides Cumberland Valley, Blue Mountain (Orwigsburg) and Wyoming Seminary are in the top 15, while two Western schools – Reynolds and Shady Side Academy – are in the top 25.
Millionaires reach 100 points
The Williamsport High School boys' basketball program is starting to return back to its historically outstanding form.
Whether it is a talented starting lineup or an explosive bench, the Millionaires are climbing back up the win column.
This time, it was a 100-point effort against Wyoming Valley West.
The bench was showcased against the Spartans, scoring 55 points in the lopsided victory.
"We have at least eight people on the bench who can do what we need to do," Millionaire Darryl Worthy told the Williamsport Sun-Gazette. "We want to elevate our game. Anything you tell us to do, we're going to do it. When the reserves go in, it's the same thing as with the starters."
Worthy scored a game-high 21 points as Williamsport jumped out to a 41-17 lead.
"The defensive pressure sometimes picks up because the starters give everything they can give and get a little bit tired. But when we go to the bench, the intensity just picks up, especially when you bring Shariff Monroe, Darryl Worthy and Keith Haynes off the bench," head coach Allen Taylor told the Williamsport newspaper.
Holy Cross survives scare
Holy Cross, ranked No. 1 by the Scranton Times-Tribune newspaper, was reeling.
Being pushed by rival Holy Redeemer, the Crusaders got a basket by Louis Cipriano to send the game into overtime, and came back for a 54-45 victory at Marywood University on Monday.
Cirpriano, who finished with a team-high 13 points, followed up a miss by Robert Weber and got the tying basket to fall through.
"I just went after it," he told the Scranton newspaper. "I would do anything that I could at that point for a win."
The Crusaders (4-0) were down 12 points in the first half, and eight points with 2:20 left in the game.
In overtime, Holy Cross dominated – outscoring Redeemer 9-1 in the final two minutes.
"They outscrapped us at the end of the game," Redeemer head coach Mark Belenski told the Times-Tribune. "They made some key shots and we allowed that."
"It was an outstanding effort," Holy Cross head coach Al Callejas told the newspaper. "Any time you fall behind by double digits early against a quality team, and you play with the pride and poise to pull out a gutsy win says something about the heart of this team."
Shamokin girls rolling
The Shamokin Area girls' basketball teams are back on the perch as one of the top teams in District 4.
The Lady Indians are coming off a 49-35, non-league victory over Williamsport Tuesday night where sophomore Tara Sabotchick scored a game-high 17 points.
Shamokin rolled out to a 24-13 lead as teammates Summer Reigle and Mary Kate Kelley also contributed in the victory.
The Lady Indians are undefeated on the season and are averaging close to 54 points each game.
"We're young, and I was worried about this six-game stretch," Lady Indian head coach Bill Callahan told the News-Item in Shamokin. "You play six games in 11 days, and if someone gets sick, if someone gets injured."
Shamokin finished 6-0 in that stretch.
While Sabotchick is emerging as the leader, Reigle and Courtney Conrad are also averaging double digits.
Big weekend at Bucknell
Get prepared for a big weekend of high school and college basketball at Bucknell's Sojka Pavilion on Saturday.
There's going to be a quadruple-header at the building with some of the best boys basketball teams in the state coming in to play.
It all starts at 10 a.m. as PIAA Class AAA Eastern champ Susquehanna Township will play against Montoursville. Following that, AA power Prep Charter from the Philadelphia area takes on undefeated Hughesville and standout Rezin Davis. The final high school game will be defending AAA champ, Steelton-Highspire, going up against AAAA Williamsport.
Four of the six teams were in the state playoffs last season. Susquehanna Township and Steel-High played in the AAA championship. Prep Charter won consecutive state crowns in 2006 and 2007.
The fourth game of the day will be a Division I contest as Bucknell hosts Drexel.
Tom Fox is Sports Editor at The Lock Haven (Pa.) Express and covers Central and Northeastern Pennsylvania for MaxPreps. He can be reached by e-mail at tfox@lockhaven.com
